Kathy Kacher

Kathy Kacher founded Career/Life Alliance Services (CLAS), Inc. in 1987; an organization dedicated to the development and integration of work/life initiatives. During the past 18 years, Ms. Kacher has delivered worklife services to many Fortune 500 companies with programs and services that range from dependent care to policy development and deployment. Through CLAS, Ms. Kacher has been responsible for authoring several popular worklife tools, which include online dependent care system, the nation’s first flexible work option guidance and tracking system, and the newest offering, a virtual benefits fair. A frequently requested speaker and presenter, Ms. Kacher has been featured at prominent industry events around the world has been featured on local morning shows, Minnesota Public Radio, the Star and Tribune, Pioneer Press, Employee Benefit News, and in the book The Working Gal’s Guide to Babyville, page 259. Since 1998, Ms. Kacher has played a significant role with the Alliance for WorkLife Progress (AWLP) Innovative Excellence Awards as both a committee chairperson and member. She is a faculty member at World at Work and participated in the creation of an interlocking suite of courses that will provide a certification process for the worklife professional. Along with her work at the AWLP she also facilitates a WorkLife Think Tank in the Twin Cities, which includes practitioners from the corporate, academic, and government sectors. The goal of the Think Tank is to have an informal, open forum that will provide an opportunity to do together what no one organization can do alone. She is also an advisory council member of the Metropolitan Washington Work/Life Coalition and the Working Parent Resource Center.

Currently Ms. Kacher lives in the Burnsville area with her husband and two children. She has been active in the community as a soccer coach, girls traveling soccer commissioner and most recently an advocate for victims of sexual assault for the Community Action Council. She enjoys gardening, music and spending time with her children and large extended family.

		Working Family Resource Center Advisory Council
Chairperson
		Peg Lindlof recently retired after more than 30 years in the educational field as a high school teacher, parent educator, and coordinator. She is currently a family education consultant and writer, and the Director of Special Projects for Working Family Resource Center. Previously she was a Work/Family Specialist at WFRC, where she coordinated and taught seminars in companies, helped start the WFRC Advisory Council, helped design Life Balance Digest and was the first co-editor, and facilitated marketing and volunteer projects. She is a Licensed Parent Educator and a Certified Family Life Educator, and is currently pursuing a Master’s Degree in Family Studies and Human Development at the University of Wisconsin-Stout. She has been on the Board of the Minnesota Council on Family Relations for eight years, and is a member of NCFR and MNAFEE. She and her late husband, Mike, are parents of two young adult children.

		KristineBolander is a single mother of a 10 year old boy named Eric. She has been employed by the State of Minnesota as a labor mediator since 2001. Prior to her employment as a mediator, she was Legal Counsel for the Operating Engineers, Local No. 49 for seven years. Ms. Bolander graduated from Hamline University, School of Law in 1995 and received her M.A. in Public Administration from Hamline in 2003. Ms. Bolander is currently pursuing a post-graduate degree in International Dispute Resolution at Bond University, School of Law, in Queensland, Australia. Ms. Bolander has been a member of the Advisory Council since 2000.

		Michael Brottis the Associate Director for the Children, Youth and Family Consortium of the University of Minnesota. Michael assists in overall administration of the Consortium through developing, implementing, and managing operations and programs. As part of his work, Michael oversees budget development, financial reporting and fund accounting. Working in concert with the Consortium's mission Michael strives to develop and maintain strong partnerships with people from the University and in the community, leveraging support and providing consultation and support for University units and community partners. Mr. Brott manages the Consortium's public relations and communications activities including its nationally recognized web site on children and family related research and information. In addition, he works with various communities and organizations in cross-disciplinary training, collaboration and facilitation, as well as information dissemination issues. Until July, 1994 Michael Brott was the Director of Action for Children. Action for Children was established by the Governor in March of 1991 to create a vision for children in Minnesota and make recommendations toward improving the lives of children and families. To that end, Action for Children authored the report Kids Can't Wait: Action for Minnesota's Children. Mr. Brott has worked in public policy at both the state and local levels, continuing his interests in media's impact on the family, and work and family issues.

		Marcia Fink is Director of the Basic Needs Impact area for the Greater Twin Cities United Way (GTCUW). Basic Needs is one of three impact areas at GTCUW and she is responsible for the planning and implementation of funding decisions for $14 - $15M in the areas of food, housing and economic self-sufficiency. Relying heavily on a wide range of data, community and client input, and community indicators, she and her team recently completed a new impact plan for Basic Needs that has three measurable, time-limited goals. Ms. Fink came to GTCUW in February 2005 after 15 years at the region's largest local chamber of commerce, serving as Vice-President the last 7 years of her tenure. Her responsibilities included workforce development, school-to-work partnerships, community leadership training programs and a variety of business empowerment programs. While at the chamber of commerce, she re-positioned the chamber's charitable foundation from a pass-through legal structure to an operating affiliate. Fink also provided oversight for the first chamber-sponsored charter school in the country. Prior to her work at the chamber, Fink spent nearly a dozen years at home with her three children, taking a "short" work break from her career in the telecommunications industry. She holds a B.A. in Anthropology from Michigan State University.



		David Rodbourneis Vice President of the Center for Ethical Business Cultures (CEBC), a non-profit, business-supported organization that assists business leaders in creating ethical and profitable business cultures. Since joining the Center in 1995, his principal work has been the development and delivery of ethical leadership workshops and services for the Center's clients and other business organizations. Mr. Rodbourne speaks on ethics to a variety of business groups and conducts periodic workshops and presentations at the University of St. Thomas and other educational institutions. He developed and led international educational experiences in business ethics and corporate responsibility for MBA students organizing visits with businesses, non-governmental organizations, and governmental agencies in Brussels and London. In addition, Mr. Rodbourne leads the Center's corporate citizenship work including an emerging study of the history of corporate social responsibility and the Center's statewide recognition program for family-friendly employers, the Minnesota Work-Life Champions Awards. Prior to joining CEBC, Rodbourne's work emphasized public policy. He served as an Issues Advisor for Minnesota Public Radio, Director of Programs for Spring Hill Conference Center, Program Manager for the Urban Coalition, and Research Associate with Dayton Hudson Corporation (now Target) and Dayton's Stores public affairs units. Mr. Rodbourne has served on the Children Youth and Family Advisory Board at the University of Minnesota and is a past Board member and program chair of the Citizens League. Currently he serves on the Working Family Resource Center Advisory Council. His educational background includes a B.A. from St. Lawrence University and graduate study at St. Lawrence and the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota. Mr. Rodbourne served as a volunteer with the Peace Corps in Afghanistan. David and his wife Marcie have one very busy 7-year old daughter.

		Thomas Rubey is a divorced father of a six year old daughter. He is a Senior Research Analyst with the Minnesota Department of Health’s Health Economics Program, prior to moving to Minnesota he was an economist with the Bureau of Labor Statistics in Washington DC. Tom has a B.A. in economics from Ohio State University and an MPA from George Washington University. He served for three years on District 833 ECFE Advisory Council and has been on the districts Community Education Daddy-Daughter Dance planning committee for the past two years. Tom coaches the East Metro High School Girls Rugby Club along with his daughter’s EVAA soccer team. Tom is also active in several family law reform groups and is a past board member of the Center for Parental Responsibility.

		Paula Werner is a parent of two boys, ages 9 and 11. One attends St Paul Public Schools, and the other the Metro Deaf School. She is the Associate Director of Development for Fraser, a non-profit that serves kids and adults with special needs. She was previously employed in Development at Minnesota Public Radio. Paula holds a BA from the University of Michigan. She is involved in her church and both of her son’s schools. She has been attending classes at the Working Family Resource Center for more than 10 years.

How To Make Shift Work Family Friendly

Overworked, Overextended And Overstressed